My Photography Sunrises around Sedona

SUNRISE ON THE SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS FROM THUNDER MOUNTAIN


Sunrise on the San Francisco Peaks as seen from Thunder Mountain

Sunrise on the San Francisco Peaks as seen from Thunder Mountain

I got up around 04:00AM on December 21, 2008, to hike Thunder Mountain in the dark. I hiked up in the freezing cold, through 4 feet of snow, uphill both ways, fighting off the mountain lions the whole time. Seriously, the temperatures were around the upper 20s when I started. I got up to the top about 30 minutes before sunrise. When the golden rays of sunrise reflected off of the Peaks, it was all worth it. In the foreground are a couple of buttes in Sedona.

I went back a week later with my 8x10 camera and exposed several sheets of film. Unfortunately, the wind blew the camera ever so gently, and all of my photos had a slight blur to them. And carrying about 30 pounds of camera gear up a mountain just to get blurry photos sucks! This winter I may try my 5x7 camera...

I tried several times in January and April 2008 to photograph the sunrise on the snow covered San Francisco Peaks. Unfortunately, in my haste I forgot about simple things like mirror lock-up to prevent blurry images and bringing the correct focal length (I needed a 200-250mm lens ideally; the first time I did not bring any telephoto lenses, and the 2nd time I only brought a 300mm lens). So January and April turned out to be an educational experience :-)

I took this photo with my MAMIYA M645 AFD-II medium format camera and PhaseOne medium format digital back with a 75-150mm telephoto lens.

Unless otherwise noted, this Website, Web Pages, and all of its contents are Trademark and Copyright 2008-2015 Daniel E. Maddux. All rights reserved.